


Mahal Kita

by orphan_account



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Angst Free, Bilingual Michael, Bisexual Jeremy Heere(not stated), Confessions, Filipino!Michael, First Kiss, Fluff, Gay Michael, Gay Michael Mell, Jeremy says hell once and that's about it for cursing, Jeremy's POV, Love Confessions, M/M, Michael is Filipino deal with it, Michael's mom is named Norianne, Mutual Pining, No Angst, Pining, She also totally knows they like each other, She's loves her son, all fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 21:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12639591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: After Michael says that 'mahal kita' means 'watch out,' Jeremy thinks Michael is being a good friend. But when Michael's mother confirms it means something else, Jeremy's not sure what to think except...Could Michael like Jeremy back?





	Mahal Kita

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo this fic is based off of this comic.  
> http://mocera.tumblr.com/post/161000611319/i-have-a-hc-where-michael-tries-to-be-discreet  
> Make sure to send them some love!
> 
> Also, in this story Michael's Filipino. I'm not entirely sure what his canon nationality is, but the comic went with Filipino so that's what I'm gonna do.
> 
> Also also, Tagalog is a highly spoken language in the Philippines, so don't get confused on when that word comes up.

    Jeremy and Michael sat in Michael’s room, lounging on bean bags as they fought through a level of Apocalypse of the Damned. They were almost to the end of the level; they couldn’t afford to mess up now.

    “Mahal kita!” Michael shouted.

    Jeremy fumbled his controller in surprise at the sudden words. “Wha-” His avatar was then hit from behind by a zombie, bringing Jeremy’s HP down to zero. Michael’s character quickly followed in suit as he too was overwhelmed by the zombie horde. Michael sighed and laid his controller on the floor. Jeremy stared at him with slight confusion. “Why did you yell ‘Mahal kita?’”

    He watched as Michael’s brown skin took on a pink tint. “It uh-- It means ‘watch out.’”

    Jeremy continued to stare at him. If it meant ‘watch out,’ then why the embarrassment? It wouldn’t be the first time he had slipped into Tagalog. (He assumed it was Tagalog, as that was the only language Michael knew other than English.) Normally it happened when he was talking to his parents, but not always. Truthfully, Jeremy enjoyed hearing Michael speak in the foreign language. It felt like Michael was allowing him to see a hidden part of him, one that a bare few got to see.

    Jeremy set his hand on Michael’s shoulder, tingles shooting up his arm as he spoke. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

    The electricity took on a higher voltage when he set his hand on Jeremy’s. Michael looked up at him with a smile. “It’s nothing. Come on, we need to finish this level. I made a bet with Jake and Rich that we would complete the next three levels before them.”

    As they picked up their controllers and continued the game, Jeremy’s mind wandered. The only conclusion he could come up with was that Michael was embarrassed for slipping into Tagalog. His face was still hinting at red, making Jeremy wonder if he could do something about it. Could he embarrass himself as a distraction? An even better idea struck Jeremy.

    “Mahal kita!” Jeremy yelled as a zombie tried to ax Michael’s avatar from behind.

    Michael did a double take at his words, leaving him no time to dodge. The character on screen was sliced down. The game ended quickly after that. “What?” he asked. His voice was rough.

    “There was a zombie right behind you,” Jeremy explained, “I was telling you to watch out.”

    “O-oh.”

    They reloaded the level and continued playing. Jeremy occasionally shouted “Mahal kita,” which Michael continued to flush redder at until he almost the same shade as his hoodie. _Perfect camouflage_ , Jeremy thought absently. They eventually finished the level leading to them hugging in celebration. Michael smelled like earth and B.O., which really shouldn’t smell good but did. Butterflies flew in Jeremy’s stomach, and he knew it wasn’t from beating the zombie hordes. Michael gave him a fist bump.

    They were interrupted by Michael’s mother, Norianne, yelling from downstairs. “Boys! It’s time for Jeremy to go home!”

    “Coming!” Michael shouted back. He turned to Jeremy. “Grab your stuff. I’ll drive you.” Michael stood up and left the room, leaving Jeremy to do as he was told.

    When he reached the kitchen, he found mother and son arguing.

    “No, no, no, you haven’t finished your chores. You were supposed to do that before Jeremy came over. You didn’t, so you will do so now while I bring Jeremy home,” Norianne was saying.

    “But Mami-”

    “Nope, you don’t get a choice. I’m sorry, Jeremy, Michael needs to finish his chores. Do you mind if I drive you home instead?” While there was no malice in her words, and Jeremy was honestly pretty sure that if he said he would be more comfortable with Michael driving him home she would’ve allowed Michael to do so, Jeremy didn’t really have a choice.

    “It’s okay. I’ll see you at school, Michael.” He found himself saying. Michael looked at him with fake offence.

    “How could do you do this to me, Jeremy?” he lamented, “I thought we were friends. But no, you took sides with my mother. I see where we stand now. You don’t care about me, you just want to eat my food.”

    “Well, you’re not wrong there.” Jeremy smirked.

    “Wha- How could you- I’m gonna get you for that!” Michael a large step towards him and started poking him in the side. Splitting laughter filled the room.

    The tickle fight deescalated after Jeremy had tears running down his face and was begging for him to stop, while Norianne finally had mercy on him and pulled Michael off.

    “Alright,” she said, “Time to get Jeremy out the door. Michael, go do your chores.” She stood on her tiptoes to give Michael a kiss on the cheek and then ruffled his hair. “Mahal kita.”

     Mahal kita? Watch out?

    They were out the door and in the car within minutes. Jeremy barely noticed how much cleaner Norianne’s car was in comparison to Michael’s own PT Cruiser. He was lost in thought. Why had Norianne told Michael to watch out? Jeremy couldn’t come up with any reasonable answer himself, so when they pulled into his driveway, he asked. “Why did you tell Michael to watch out?”

    She looked at him with concerned confusion. “When did I do that?”

    “Before we left. You know, mahal kita.”

    That seemed to be very funny to Michael’s mother. “Mahal kita means 'I love you.' What has Michael been telling you?”

    Jeremy struggled to find an answer. Michael had said ‘mahal kita’ to him. Michael had said ‘I love you’ to him. He couldn’t believe it. Could Michael… could Michael like him back?

    Jeremy had had a crush on Michael for as long as he could remember. He had had other crushes in that time too, but his one for Michael never died out. He was so sure it would, that he could just ride it out and get over it. But that hadn’t happened like with the other ones. Jeremy was stuck pining after Michael. Even after Michael came out as gay, Jeremy still viewed a romantic relationship between them as a lofty dream, something unachievable. But now… it seemed only improbable, not impossible.

    “Jeremy?” Norianne’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “You okay?”

    He needed time to think. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” He nodded and left the car, heading straight to his room.

 

    The next time they talked was at school the next day, Friday. Jeremy didn’t bring up his questions, there was never a good time, and life went on as all previous days had. It wasn’t until they got to Jeremy’s house for a sleepover that he finally mentioned it. They sat in his room on his bed, just talking about this and that. At a lull in the conversation, Jeremy finally worked up the nerve to say something. “Your mom-- uh, your mom told me that mahal kita means ‘I love you.’”

    Jeremy glanced up from his fidgeting fingers to see Michael had gone frighteningly pale. “Did she now?”

    He scooched over so that he sat next to Michael, sides touching. They both looked straight forward. “Does it?”

    Michael’s breathing stuttered. “Yes,” he whispered.

    Jeremy turned his head so fast it should’ve snapped. “Did you mean it, um, romantically?” His words were barely audible. He hoped that Michael couldn’t hear the hope in his voice. He was glad that the other boy was facing forward, otherwise he certainly would’ve seen in splattered across his face.

    “Yes,” Michael breathed. His eyes were shining with tears, and he looked absolutely terrified. How could Jeremy stop this?

    He knew how.

    He turned Michael’s head softly toward him and leaned in. Jeremy could feel Michael’s breath on his lips. “Can I?”

    “Yes.”

    The kiss was hard and fast. It seemed Michael had craved this as much Jeremy had. Their arms snaked around each other, Michael pulling the other boy into his lap, Jeremy cradling his face. Michael’s hand was up the back of his shirt. Jeremy tugged and carded through his Player 1’s hair. Their lips only left each other for quick gasps of air before they dived back into each other.

    Jeremy wasn’t sure how long it was until they pulled away from each other. They found themselves completely intertwined, not entirely sure where one boy ended and the other began. The both breathed heavily.

    “That was… Amazing.” Jeremy breathed. He laid his head down on Michael’s shoulder, his insides buzzing. Michael pressed a kiss into his hair. Jeremy continued speaking. “I really, really like you.”

    “I gathered that.” Jeremy could almost feel the smirk emanating from Michael’s face.

    “Shut up.” They both laughed.

    Michael cleared his throat. “Would you like to, um, would you like to date now?”

    “If it means I get more of that, than hell yes,” Jeremy said, still tucking himself into Michael’s body.

    “Wow, I knew you didn’t really care about me. Before, you were only here for food. Now you want to make out too. So demanding,” Michael teased.

    “I thought I told you to shut up.” Jeremy flicked him in the arm. He then pulled his head up just enough to whisper into Michael’s ear, “Mahal kita.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this! Feel free to leave reviews and comments and please send constructive criticism.


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